New Mayor: the first 10 days

Since becoming the new Mayor of London two weeks ago, Sadiq Khan has been giving an indication of how his mayoralty will pan out.

Mr Khan has given the green-light for London City Airport to expand, set out a new bus fare and started to outline a housing plan. All whilst having a public spat with Donald Trump.

The announcement that City Hall has withdrawn objections to London City Airport buying land from the Greater London Authority, was welcomed by our infrastructure director, David Leam, in the FT as ‘sending a strong signal to government to approve the airport’s planning application’.

Other announcements include:

Homes for Londoners: confirmed planning to create a body similar to Transport for London which will plan, finance and build new homes using surplus public land such as vacant TfL sites;

Garden Bridge: gives backing to the project but says the footbridge would have to be more accessible for Londoners.

London First has been in contact with the new Mayor to congratulate him on his appointment and set out what we believe are the key business priorities for London. We will be meeting Sadiq and his team in the comings days and will organise a chance for members to meet with the new Mayor in due course.

A new team of Deputy Mayors are currently being put in place, with some in interims positions: